Coupling coordination analysis and spatiotemporal heterogeneity between urbanization and ecosystem health in Chongqing municipality, China

There is concern about the migration and adverse impact of pesticides used in banana production systems in Ecuador on aquaculture and ecosystem health. Therefore, we studied the sorption of chlorothalonil, fenamiphos, and its 2 metabolites (fenamiphos sulfone and fenamiphos sulfoxide), by batch method on 6 surface soils from the Guayas River Basin (1–3�S, 79–81�W), a major banana production area of Ecuador. The sorption of chlorothalonil on the 6 soils was high and varied considerably as shown by the Kd values ranging from 68.50 to 152.60 L/kg. The sorption coefficients normalised with the organic carbon content of soil (Koc) for chlorothalonil ranged from 2330 to 7336 kg/L, with a mean value of 4012 kg/L. These Koc values are higher than those previously reported in the literature. The sorption of fenamiphos and its metabolites to the 6 soils varied among soils in a similar pattern. The Kd values ranged from 5.66 to 14.31�L/kg for fenamiphos, from 2.81 to 8.79 L/kg for fenamiphos sulfone, and from 0.77 to 4.00 L/kg for fenamiphos sulfoxide, respectively. In all of the soils the sorption coefficients of both metabolites of fenamiphos were lower than that for the parent compound. The Koc values ranged from 220 to 515 kg/L (mean value 371 kg/L) for fenamiphos, from 29 to 141 kg/L (mean value of 76 kg/L) for fenamiphos sulfoxide, and from 79 to 334 kg/L (mean value of 191 kg/L) for fenamiphos sulfone. Chlorothalonil had much stronger sorption than fenamiphos and its metabolites on the Ecuadorian soil. Due to lower sorption and therefore greater mobility and longer persistence of the fenamiphos metabolites, these compounds need adequate consideration during residue monitoring and assessment of potential off-site impacts on ecosystem health and aquaculture in the Guayas River Basin.

Download Full-text

Environmental and Social Risks to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health—A Bottom-Up, Resource-Focused Assessment Framework

Earth ◽

10.3390/earth2030026 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 440-456

Author(s):

Roger A. Pielke ◽

Jimmy Adegoke ◽

Faisal Hossain ◽

Dev Niyogi

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Function ◽

Ecosystem Health ◽

Interactive System ◽

Integrative Approach ◽

Individual Species ◽

Assessment Framework ◽

Top Down ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Social Risks ◽

Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function

Risks from human intervention in the climate system are raising concerns with respect to individual species and ecosystem health and resiliency. A dominant approach uses global climate models to predict changes in climate in the coming decades and then to downscale this information to assess impacts to plant communities, animal habitats, agricultural and urban ecosystems, and other parts of the Earth’s life system. To achieve robust assessments of the threats to these systems in this top-down, outcome vulnerability approach, however, requires skillful prediction, and representation of changes in regional and local climate processes, which has not yet been satisfactorily achieved. Moreover, threats to biodiversity and ecosystem function, such as from invasive species, are in general, not adequately included in the assessments. We discuss a complementary assessment framework that builds on a bottom-up vulnerability concept that requires the determination of the major human and natural forcings on the environment including extreme events, and the interactions between these forcings. After these forcings and interactions are identified, then the relative risks of each issue can be compared with other risks or forcings in order to adopt optimal mitigation/adaptation strategies. This framework is a more inclusive way of assessing risks, including climate variability and longer-term natural and anthropogenic-driven change, than the outcome vulnerability approach which is mainly based on multi-decadal global and regional climate model predictions. We therefore conclude that the top-down approach alone is outmoded as it is inadequate for robustly assessing risks to biodiversity and ecosystem function. In contrast the bottom-up, integrative approach is feasible and much more in line with the needs of the assessment and conservation community. A key message of our paper is to emphasize the need to consider coupled feedbacks since the Earth is a dynamically interactive system. This should be done not just in the model structure, but also in its application and subsequent analyses. We recognize that the community is moving toward that goal and we urge an accelerated pace.

Download Full-text

Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity of Ecological Policy Compromises Human Well-Being and Giant Panda Habitat Conservation in Giant Panda National Park

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13095013 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 5013

Author(s):

Dan Zhu ◽

Degang Yang

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Socioeconomic Factors ◽

National Park ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Giant Panda ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Well Being ◽

Habitat Conservation ◽

Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity ◽

Panda Habitat

Identifying how policy, socioeconomic factors, and environmental factors influence changes in human well-being (HWB) and conservation efficiency is important for ecological management and sustainable development, especially in the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP). In this study, we systematically analyzed the differences in the conservation status of the giant panda habitat and changes in HWB over 15 years in the GPNP, which includes six mountain sites, Minshan (MS), Qionglai (QLS), Xiaoxiangling (XXL), Liangshan (LS), Qinling (QL), and Daxiangling (DXL). Redundancy analyses were used to determine the factors contributing (policy, socioeconomic factors, and environmental factors) to HWB and giant panda habitat conservation (HC). In addition, using a structural equation model (SEM), we investigated the relationship between the aforementioned three factors and their direct and indirect effects on HWB and HC. The results indicated that there was spatiotemporal heterogeneity of HWB and HC in our study area. There was an increasing number of plant species as well as an increased number of giant panda in GPNP. Generally, HWB in 2015 showed an increasing trend compared with that in 2000. Socioeconomic factors (23.6%) have the biggest influence on HWB and HC, followed by policy (23.2%) and environmental factors (19.4%). Conservation policy had a significantly positive influence on HWB (0.52), while it negatively influenced HC (−0.15). Socioeconomic factors significantly negatively influenced HWB (−0.38). The formulation and implementation of policies to promote economic development will contribute to the protection of giant pandas and their habitat. Our results provide insight on the conservation status of the giant panda habitat, HWB, and factors influencing them in different mountain sites in the GPNP, as well as having implications for the future management of the GPNP.

Download Full-text